; Former Crack Cocaine Addict Counselling Other Users

Summary

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A R E F O R M E D c r a c k cocaine addict and a former alcoholic are using their life experience to help counsel people who are struggling with substance abuse. Rick Hopper, 37, has been free of drugs and alcohol for two years and is now volunteering at The Junction rehabilitation clinic in Trafford Street, Scunthorpe. He presented himself to the clinic eight years ago when he was gripped by a crack cocaine addiction. Rick, of Scunthorpe, has since beaten his addiction and wants to help others do the same. The former joiner said: "I'd moved into Scunthorpe and was living at a friend's house when I started using heroin as a weekend type of thing.

"It crept into the week and then it was every day. "That moved on to crack cocaine and that became my main drug. "I got chucked out of my flat and became homeless." Rick had lost his job in Newcastle before moving back to Scunthorpe and discovering drugs, and he said his addiction worsened when his father died. "I thought if you want to throw a warm blanket over yourself and stop feeling pain then drugs work," he said. "You've got to be focussed on quitting and want to be able to do it."

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; Former Crack Cocaine Addict Counselling Other Users

With the help of The Junction and his sister who took him in when he was at his lowest ebb, Rick o...

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